The Buckeye Thread

[eagrbeavr]

I had a hen who went broody constantly this past summer. I gave up and let her sit there with a golf ball. After 6 wks she finally gave up and that was the end of it.

 

[eagrbeavr]

Pardon me. Wrong thread

 

[Leahs Mom]

My 3 Buckeye pullets and 1 Cockerel are 24 weeks old today.

The cockerel isn't crowing...he's very quiet though I know he "can" crow.
The cockerel is still running away from the other adult hens in the flock; it appears he hasn't figured out that he's a man yet and neither have they.
The girls aren't laying.

I was thinking that at this age (24 weeks) I'd start seeing more maturity in both sexes.

What has been everyone's experience with this?

 

[stryker]

Just went out today to sell some old hens and had to take this pic of the buckeye hen. This hen hatched out 3 batches this year. This molt is crazy..

 

[Leahs Mom]

My 3 Buckeye pullets and 1 Cockerel are 24 weeks old today.

The cockerel isn't crowing...he's very quiet though I know he "can" crow.
The cockerel is still running away from the other adult hens in the flock; it appears he hasn't figured out that he's a man yet and neither have they.
The girls aren't laying.

I was thinking that at this age (24 weeks) I'd start seeing more maturity in both sexes.

What has been everyone's experience with this?

anyone have any comments?

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

@Leahs Mom The days are getting shorter, so I think it takes longer for the pullets to start laying this late in the year. That's been my experience. You should be getting eggs soon though, is there a chance they are laying somewhere other than a nest box? Last summer I waited and waited...... no eggs........ then I found a huge pile of them in the woods. All the pullets were laying in one spot, but none in the nest boxes.
When I had a single rooster, he was much quieter than now when I have multiple roosters crowing at each other. I noticed that there was a big difference in maturity between 6 months and 8 months- the rooster slowly got better and better, more handsome and glossy each month. I think it depends on the strain you have too, but don't worry I think they will all get there! My Buckeye boy is at the bottom of the pecking order, he's in with 3 Buckeye/Cornish cross roosters and I have yet to hear him crow. He's a little younger than your cockerel.

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Just went out today to sell some old hens and had to take this pic of the buckeye hen. This hen hatched out 3 batches this year. This molt is crazy..

My Buckeye hen was a lovely even dark red as a pullet, but after her first adult moult her feathers were much paler red and very uneven and blotchy. Her hackle is darker, I like the look, but it's something I want to breed out. She's a broody girl too next year I will let her hatch a few. I have 2 very broody cornish and the broody Buckeye, perfect.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@CanadianBuckeye

Thanks! I took a walk around their wooded area today just to be sure I hadn't missed anything out there. Since I have other breeds, these Buckeyes are very docile and tend to stay in their little group. The SFH pullets - especially one of them, like to make threatening moves toward them and they just stay out of the limelight.

Here are a few photos from today. 24 weeks old. Any comments would be great! The photos I took with flash aren't as good as the non-flash for showing their true color.


These are all photos of the same boy.







Girl w/Green Band




Girl with Red Band







Girl with Pink Band

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

@CanadianBuckeye

Thanks! I took a walk around their wooded area today just to be sure I hadn't missed anything out there. Since I have other breeds, these Buckeyes are very docile and tend to stay in their little group. The SFH pullets - especially one of them, like to make threatening moves toward them and they just stay out of the limelight.

Here are a few photos from today. 24 weeks old. Any comments would be great! The photos I took with flash aren't as good as the non-flash for showing their true color.


These are all photos of the same boy.







Girl w/Green Band




Girl with Red Band







Girl with Pink Band

I am very much a Buckeye beginner but I would say your Buckeyes are lovely! Looks like your pullets don't have excess cushion, mine do, unfortunately. Your Buckeye Boy looks very much like mine did at that age, and he matured a lot over the next few months into what I thought was a very handsome fellow and I'm sure yours still has a lot of growing to do. Your cockerel looks like he's nice and broad in the back, which is what you want. The pullets matured more quickly than the cockerels, it seemed to me. Getting the colour red nice and dark, and even, without black in the chest and hackle is a good thing! It's good that you have some photos, have a look back in a few months and you will be amazed! I'd be very happy to have your Buckeye flock.
It's difficult to tell from a couple of pictures and it's hard to get the chickens to pose nicely, if the pink band girl holds her tail like that all the time, that might not be quite the correct angle and the top line looks a bit odd compared to the standard. But she might just be at the bottom of the pecking order! Nice yellow legs on all of them.

 

[Minniechickmama]

The color on the pink banded pullet is very nice and clean. I will take a nice, even color on the surface over pushing to get so dark you have black popping out which is something that happened to some of mine now, after outcrossing especially. What that tail on the cockerel, it is looking a bit low and something you want to stay away from. He is coming along nice but he has some maturing to do. His color is clean but a bit on the light side from these pictures, maybe he looks different to you? His comb is still small which tells me he hasn't gotten a big surge in testosterone that really has him blooming. BC is right, they really start to come on around 8 months and look like totally different birds from a 6-month old. He is just getting his hackles and saddles growing and he will be more handsome in a few weeks. As for not crowing, Buckeyes aren't big crowers at my place, and when they do, at least my strain isn't a loud and shrill one and it is short. In fact, mine have a different kind of crow that I really enjoy but don't get to hear enough of, even with 11 males in the pasture.
Be happy he isn't being jerk to the girls, many can be too stupid to know what to do and just drag a hen by the head sometimes. Perhaps he will be a kind and gentle breeder.
Like BC said also, nice leg color! They don't look too bad at all from these shots. I would like to see more width in the cockerels head and a darker color, but like I said, I like clean color. Check to see if they have the slate undercolor on their back too.

This is a time of year that you may not see them laying. If you supplement light then you might see eggs coming soon, but if you don't use lights to extend their hours of light, you might not see eggs until February when they sense a natural increase in daylight. All of my hens have gone to molt and I barely get anything besides bantam and pullet eggs, and I get fewer pullet eggs since I haven't turned the lights up yet. I do like to give them a break in the worst of the molting season though. Good luck though. 24-weeks is average, so some go longer too.